The
controversy stems from a CNN scoop that was broadcast last Monday
night, minutes before the Iowa caucuses began. Reporter Chris Moody
received information from the Carson campaign that he would be taking a
break from the campaign trail after Iowa. Moody,
and the other CNN reporters who followed up on the report, said Carson
would continue campaigning after taking a break at home in Florida. His
next stop, they said, would be Washington, D.C., for the National Prayer
Breakfast on Thursday.

Shortly
after the CNN report came out, Carson's campaign downplayed the
significance, saying the candidate needed a fresh set of clothes.
Meanwhile, political analysts generally agreed with Tapper and Bash's
assessment that it was unusual for a presidential candidate to not rush
to New Hampshire. Virtually all of Carson's rivals hurried to New
Hampshire after the caucuses.

The next
morning, Carson's side started lambasting Cruz for "dirty tricks." This
prompted a half-apology from Cruz that pointed a finger at CNN.

"Last
night when our political team saw the CNN post saying Dr. Carson was
not carrying on to New Hampshire and South Carolina, our campaign
updated the grassroots leaders just as we would with any breaking news
story. That's fair game," Cruz said in a statement.

"What the team
should have done is send around the follow-up statement from the Carson
campaign clarifying that he was indeed staying in the race when that
came out. That was a mistake from our end, and for that I apologize to
Dr. Carson."

Cruz has been under fire after some on his
team told Carson supporters their candidate was about to drop out as the
caucuses began.

Asked why that had happened during Saturday's GOP presidential debate on ABC News, Cruz put the blame on CNN. ..........

"On
Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from
Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, 'Taking
a break from campaigning,'" Cruz said.

"They reported that on
television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf
Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political
team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our
volunteers, it was being covered on live television."

Cruz went
on to say that the network did not clarify it's report and acknowledge
that Carson was not dropping out until later that night.

Carson
himself pushed back against that claim from Cruz, noting that the
network clarified the news on Twitter just minutes after the initial
report.